By Alyssa Madsen
On February 27, the Star Community Bar in Little 5 Points hosted a night full of acts that unleashed the crowd's wild side, headlined by Wieuca. It was my first time at this venue, and my immediate thought was that it was a smaller, cozier version of Athens’ 40 Watt Club. With four punk rock bands on the bill, the evening promised fans of the genre authenticity and an anti-establishment attitude.
As concertgoers trickled in, the show opened with the first band of the night, Cascadent. Their sound, a healthy mix of pop punk (think All Time Low and Yellowcard) and post hardcore metal (think A Day to Remember), quickly captured everyone’s attention. It was reminiscent of the kind of music I listened to as a teenager so the whole thing was nostalgic for me. Even though the crowd was light, they had an amazing stage presence and engaged the audience all while doing some pretty fun tricks. At the end of the set, the lead guitarist was showing off his behind-the-back playing skills. It all almost makes up for the fact that I couldn’t go to the Vans Warped Tour as a teenager before they retired the festival. Almost.
Assembly brought a more unique sound to their set. They played more fluidly , using their vocals as an instrument to blend with the sound rather than having clear and articulate lyrics. They used tons of distortion along with noisy synths. After the show I got to speak briefly with the band about their performance and their overall process. They collectively agreed that they don’t stick to just one kind of style and tend to feed off of each other’s sound to build a song. During their performance, they played their new single “Tower” which featured a more cohesive sound. . This checks out with their experimental play style, and along with their artistically written lyrics their maturity as a band is beginning to show.
Star Bar was getting pretty full once Tongues of Fire came on. The lead singer/guitarist had the bottom of his guitar held together with duct tape. I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect, but I knew the duct tape was a sign of a killer set. Their uptempo songs and rough, noisy guitars brought the crowd to their true form of the night, breaking out into mosh pits. One woman attempted to crowd surf. As a dramatic end to the set the lead singer dropped his guitar on stage as the crowd chanted for one more song. Tongues of Fire went as quickly as they came with this set, but it left a great impression.. They did release a new single prior to the show called “Superficial” that they unfortunately did not play that night. I listened to it on my own later, and it’s a bummer that they weren’t able to fit it into their set. It has a very similar vibe to the rest of their discography with a strong guitar presence and heavy drum beat. While it may not be the best song to mosh to compared to some of their other songs, I could totally see some intense head banging.
Riding the momentum, the night’s headliner, Wieuca, took center stage. I honestly didn’t think the atmosphere could get any better, but Wieuca was able to bring out a primal energy from some of their biggest fans that rubbed off on everyone else. A mosh pit repeatedly opened up, allowing everyone to release their inhibitions and just rock out. They brought in elements of hip hop akin to Beastie Boys, overlaying rap verses to their typical punk sound.
During their set, Wieuca played an unreleased song, “Work Wife”, maintaining the powerful guitar playing style. I got the chance to speak with Wieuca frontman, Will Ingram, about the inspiration behind this song. He mentioned “Work Wife” was partially inspired by someone he knew and spun that using a toxic, egotistical narrator that views himself in a completely different way and doesn’t realize that he is bringing in baggage for everyone else to see. This same theme is prevalent in “Man of the House” off their album Burning Platform. “Man of the House” at the time was meant to be a satirical critique of the traditional role of a man and his relationships with his partner and family. Ingram summed it up perfectly, “They think they’re the person calling all the shots, but as the story unfolds it becomes clear that really the only thing that they’ve been relegated to control is a little corner of the yard that they take care of.” He teased that they are in the middle of recording a new album that is all about work using themes of ego and control to bring the story to life that we got a taste of with “Work Wife” and continuing the critique of men in today’s society in a more serious light.